We’re Christians, Of Course We’re Pro-Life, But…

Guest post by Debbie Mountford, first published on CBRUK.

Last week I wrote about Lily Allen’s recent comments on the ‘Miss Me’ podcast, where she casually admitted to multiple abortions and said she “can’t remember how many”. Her co-host, Miquita Oliver, chimed in that she’d had “about five”. The glibness of it all sparked outrage online and in the media — The Express mentioned it again yesterday.

The framing has been depressingly familiar: “A woman has the right to choose — it’s her body. It’s healthcare, just like any other medical procedure… but don’t be flippant about it, that’s disgusting!” 

In other words, killing a child in the womb is fine — but do it quietly, and at least keep count of how many you have killed, and try to keep it to a minimum. 

They never think to ask WHY they feel someone should struggle morally over removing a clump of cells?

But what has really struck me, is not the hypocrisy of the world, that is expected. No…it’s the hypocrisy of the church. 

Where was the Church’s response? Where were the pastors, the theologians, the Christian influencers willing to speak truth with grace?

We were (for the most part) silent. Again.

And that silence speaks volumes.

We’re Christians, Of Course We’re Pro-life, But…

I sometimes wonder if we really understand what that means — not just as a theological position, but as a moral imperative in the culture we’re living in.

Because here’s the thing: moral drift doesn’t usually happen through big, dramatic shifts. It happens subtly. Slowly. Incrementally.

I’ve always been fascinated by historical context — both real and imagined. I love reading Jane Austen and Arthur Conan Doyle, and I often find myself wondering how their characters would navigate the modern world. I can picture Mr Darcy fuming at traffic jams, or Sherlock Holmes using AI to solve cold cases.

However,  I also wonder what they’d make of our modern ethical landscape? And then I flip it: how do we look back at past evils — slavery, segregation, the holocaust? We wonder how entire generations lived with such horror and said nothing!

The Frog In The Pot

You know the metaphor: drop a frog into boiling water, it leaps straight out. Put it in cool water and slowly raise the temperature? It dies, unaware it’s cooking.

Are we, the Church, frogs in slowly warming water?

If we were from another time, and suddenly dropped into a world where over 250,000 abortions took place every year in the UK — where over 40% of women seeking them had done so before — would we remain silent?

If we heard Lily Allen jokingly parody Frank Sinatra, while laughing that she couldn’t remember how many abortions she had…would we be outraged? 

Would we whisper “this is too sensitive,” “this is not loving,” “this is not the time”?

Let’s be clear: we are pro-life. We believe the unborn are human beings — image-bearers of God. Life begins at conception. Scripture affirms this. But that conviction rarely escapes private conversation.

We nod politely at pregnancy centres. We quietly support post-abortion recovery ministries. We’ll even pray — so long as it’s discreet. So long as no one outside the church notices. So long as no one labels us as “American-style pro-lifers” or “judgmental.”

But we dare not speak plainly. We dare not show photos. We dare not campaign. We dare not call abortion what it is.

We are Christians. We are pro-life. But...

We don’t want to offend.

We don’t want to be divisive.

We don’t want to be political.

We don’t want to be unloving.

We don’t want to look extreme.

And most of all…we (rightly) don’t want to put people off the Gospel. 

But what is more unloving than letting a lie thrive because the truth makes people uncomfortable?

We act like the Gospel is so fragile it will collapse if we also speak up for the most vulnerable and voiceless among us. Do we not trust the Holy Spirit to work through truth and compassion at once?

Somehow, graphic photos of aborted children are considered more offensive than the act that killed them. We don't apply that same logic to pictures of starving children in Yemen or images of blackened lungs on cigarette packets.

Offering prayer outside a clinic is deemed more harmful than the procedure inside it.

We know the truth. But we won’t show it.

We know the stats. But we won’t speak them.

We know the damage abortion causes to women — the physical risks, the mental health toll, the grief. But we still tell ourselves that being “non-directive” is love.

Because love, apparently, is letting someone walk blindly toward destruction — as long as we don’t raise our voices and upset them along the way.

Too Political

We say we shouldn’t bring politics into the pulpit. But wasn’t slavery once political too? Would we have told Wilberforce and Clarkson to pipe down? 

Imagine if we had.

‘Slavery will never be abolished. People will just do it illegally. We can’t help everyone. We need to focus on the Gospel.’

Sound familiar?

How many times have we said the same about abortion?

And what about the children — the 1,000 lives lost every working day in the UK? Do they not deserve to live long enough to hear the Gospel?

It’s all too easy to do nothing and call it nuance. To redefine silence as compassion. To confuse tact for truth.

But Jesus never did. As we read in John 8, our Lord offers mercy, forgiveness and love, but He’s not afraid to call out sinful action and instruct “go, and sin no more”. He was never afraid of looking extreme in the eyes of the culture. 

Should we be afraid to  look extreme, when more than a million babies die every week by abortion across the globe? Remember, the Israelites sacrificed their sons and daughters to idols and desecrated their land with innocent blood. And God hated it. 

If we believe abortion is a modern equivalent — the shedding of innocent blood for the idols of self, convenience, and fear — then how can we not speak out? Not just for the sake of the babies, but for their mothers and fathers as well. 

Is Screwtape Smiling? 

I once heard a pastor say that abortion conversations had become “a gateway to the Gospel” in his ministry. At first, I wasn't entirely sure I believed him. But now I can testify to that truth myself. I’ve had more deep, meaningful Gospel conversations off the back of pro-life discussions than almost anything else. 

Yes, those conversations are often messy. They can cause friction. But they also spark curiosity, reflection and repentance. In turn, I have learned so much from speaking to people from all walks of life on this issue, I pray I will continue to do so. And we at CBR UK, have gratefully seen God work through these conversations, blessing them and bringing people to the cross of Jesus. Praise the Lord!

I truly believe Satan would love few things more, than for the Church to believe abortion is a distraction from the Gospel — rather than a doorway into it. Do you think he isn’t delighted that we’ve swallowed the lie that silence is safer?

Speaking of the Devil, C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters is one of my favourite books of all time. His fictional demon, Screwtape, writes of how best to tempt a man away from God — not through horror or outrage, but through inertia.

“The safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

I wonder, is it soft underfoot when we say the right things on this topic but do little? Watching our nation sacrifice its children while we whisper: “Yes, but what about the Gospel?”

We’re Christians. Of course we’re pro-life. But…

Not if it costs us social standing.

Not if it gets us labelled.

Not if it draws fire.

Not if it gets political.

Not if it’s uncomfortable.

Not if it offends.

So what are we waiting for? A safer time? A better place? A Gospel that offends no one?

There is none.

There never was.

And just like the Church that stayed quiet in Wilberforce’s day, we may one day be remembered — not for what we said, but for what we refused to say. Not for who we saved, but for who we left behind.

We are Christians.

Of course we’re pro-life.

But unless we act like it — unless we speak like it — we’re just frogs.

And the water’s already boiling.